Задание

Read the text and fill in the gaps 1—6 by choosing one of the phrases. There is extra phrase.

Science fiction writers, including Jules Verne and Isaac Asimov, wrote about rockets to the moon, nuclear power, the Internet and robots. All of these things are now a reality: 1) . So where are these household robots we were promised? Where are our robot helpers to do the ironing, cook dinner, walk the dog, clean the house and so on?

It is true that we have already got some robots 2) but what about the human-like companions we were promised that can walk, talk and cater for all our needs? Perhaps it is much more difficult in practice than in theory to build such a robot.

The truth is that for such a robot to exist it must be able to think 3) . They don't have the knowledge to give a robot intelligence or the power of reasoning. Worse still, it seems that they may never work it out. Researchers say that the best way to overcome this problem is to study the human 4) .

Nevertheless, scientists have already overcome other problems such as mobility. For example, Honda's ASIMO robot can walk, run and climb stairs without any problems. Also, robots can now look more human thanks to roboticist David Hanson's invention of a skin covering called Frubber 5) .

Language may be another obstacle as robots have to be able to understand figurative speech such as idioms, 6) .

All in all, experts are divided as to when robot assistants may become a reality. Some say five years, others say fifty. Who knows — soon household robots may be as common as home computers.